Links of Great Interest: Signal Boosting for a couple orgs

Signal Boosting: AIRC is hosting a food drive for Native Elder Nutrition Centers. In these tough times, it’s the most vulnerable populations that have been hit the hardest, so if you can please donate so that these elders don’t go hungry. From the Chairman:

It costs money to deliver food to extremely remote reservation communities where many hungry Native Elders and children live! And right now we just need to make sure we can meet the increasing requests of our food partners!

No Native Elder should be forced to choose between food and medicine … or between feeding her grandchild and feeding herself. Not when you and I can help!

Signal Boosting: Jazz and Democracy is having a fundraising push. Let’s help some kids discover the power of a unique style of music.

From Elee:

I have never heard of this parent trigger law (no surprise there) but the idea behind it is pretty intriguing, and hopefully worth a discussion. Though at this point I know enough of education politics in US to say that better funding and better conditions for teachers would eliminate half of the problems, at least parents have now a little power.

From Lindsey:

This is an IGN video, part of some contest they were doing, I don’t even know. But the…game topic chosen in all seriousness is misogynistic icky as hell.

From Cinnabar:

Hey, I just thought you’d like to know there’s been an update to the Bioware saga. I like to call it, “The Return of Straight Male Gamer.” Couldn’t get through the dreck? Neither could I. But from what I gather, it can be summed up thusly: “Arise, my brothers and sisters in homobigotry! For too long our voices have been silenced by the evil forces of social justice and tolerance. But to that I say NAY! Today, we take a stand against all that oppresses us. No more will we silently endure this atrocity, holding back our opinions and thoughts in fear of judgement. Today, we break the shackles that have bound us for far too long. We stand together in solidarity and strength. We are not alone. Say it with me, my brothers and sisters. HOMOS ARE ICKY AND GROSS!!!”

I thought you might enjoy this post about the term “Facebook-rape”: It simplifies the issues around language use and rape culture, but I wanted to make a strong point to friends who are not engaged with feminism.

Universities are timid about stopping sexual assault, so the assaulted are more likely to transfer to another school than are the assailants, and women on campus still have a better chance of being raped than do women elsewhere. Oh, and don’t read the comments.

Here’s a neat law write-up. I… can’t get more specific because besides “Oh SNAP!” I have nothing to say.

Hey, Hathor readers! Let’s watch a show together! Starting this Sunday, we’ll be posting a discussion starter every week for an episode of Firefly– watch along with us and take a look at this series from a critical standpoint. Most of us will be watching for the umpteenth time, but viewers who’ve never seen the series before are more than welcome to join the discussion. Firefly is available via Netflix streaming, and on Hulu, for those in the US, as well as on DVD and Blu-ray.

We’ll be watching other shows together soon, so keep an eye out even if Firefly isn’t to your taste!

Comments

I stopped reading the homophobic gamer’s response when I got to his suggestion that perhaps the breakdown of genders in gaming is 60, 30, 10: male, female & gay. How the hell do you reason with someone who thinks gay is a third gender?

‘I don’t see how Gaider’s reply was in anyway blasting my arguments. In fact, what Gaider basically said was that “You’re right. Dragon Age 2 was not made specifically for “straight male gamer” in mind. It was made to be all-inclusive.” And that was exactly the accusation I was making.’

“The idea of privilege is ridiculous. The “privilege” always lies with the majority because if your goal is to make a game that will be liked by as many fans possible, then it makes sense to focus on that largest group. Why should one fan’s enjoyment be more important than five others? It’d more accurate to call “privilege” the idea that some minority group gets special preference for political points.”

How dare gays, bisexuals, POCs and other Not-Me people want to play games with them in it? Clearly, wanting the exact same thing that I have always had is just them trying to get special treatment!

“If your goal is not to make as many fans as possible happy but to enact some form of social crusade then please, market and advertise the game as such. If you believe there are a substantial number of players who would appreciate those features, then advertise it and create trailers for it, don’t lead me to believe that this game was crafted for the straight male. If you truly believe that the straight male gamers are not important enough that you should focus on them, then I would like to see your marketing reflect that.”

And how dare Bioware try and burst my little bubble! If you’re trying to be socially transgressive, warn me first so I can avoid it!

“As a side note, I’d like to say that I’m not at all surprised by all the pro-homosexuality comments and that I expected even more. 1% of a million is still 10000.”

There are very few gay people! So naturally they don’t matter! *whisperfromoffscreen* What the hell is a bisexual?

Secondly, an annoying part is that under all the fail, he actually has a point about RPG game design. I loved Mass Effect, despite the fact that I really had very little control over Shepard’s personality and history; and I still can’t bring myself to finish Dragon Age: Origins because I simply can’t engage with it or my protagonist as well. In Mass Effect, it feels more like the choices I make in character creation matter, because they all feel like they affect the story in a deeper manner.

But that’s a gaming thing and totally irrelevent to this blog, and it doesn’t make what this guy was saying any less stupid.

The other giant point this guy entirely missed is that he doesn’t actually speak for all straight male gamers. Where it the outcry from thousands? Where are the forums that are filling up with straight white guys who hate this game?

This guy is unusually narrow minded, and that makes him a sort of mini-demographic unto himself. So, he’s really not a big enough demographic for anyone to concern themselves with. If they’re serious about making money, that is.

That’s what we’ve been trying to tell the film industry for years: straight white guys who would actually boycott something because it has a well-written female lead or a black man in the lead are an extremely small group. The “target demographic” they think is so full of -ists and -phobias… they all saw Aliens and every Will Smith blockbuster. There’s absolutely no evidence that most young white men EVER let their isms and phobias keep them from good entertainment.

If this guy wants to let it keep him from being entertained, that’s entirely his issue.

“Those who agree with me will likely do so silently for fear of being called homophobic by what can only be called a mob as even Gaider pointed out or just won’t bother out of feeling of pointlessness like I once did. But to those people, I encourage you to post as well and not let your concerns be silenced as some would like.”

See, this poor guy is suffering just like I was once. So instead of just CLAIMING lots of other people hated how women were repped in TV and film, like he’s doing, I started a BLOG and let other people speak their minds if they wanted to. To my shock, it took off with absolute zero promotion. Because I actually was not the only one!

I strongly advise this lower no one could possibly take seriously to start up a blog for people who are deeply bothered by that game and find out what a rare critter he actually is.

Because I think all the things people have said to us over the years really DO apply to this overwrought bigot: you’re oversensitive, get a grip, it’s just a game, don’t you have better things to do, no one else cares.

Urgh. “In sorrow shalt thou bring forth children” refers to anguish, not physical pain, and comes after the verse in which Adam is told that he’s going to be working like a dog for the rest of his life. IOW, life post-Eden sucks for everybody and there is little hope even at the beginning of life. You can’t consider individual Bible verses without context. Chapters and verses are a relatively late addition to Scripture and absolutely do not require or excuse compartmentalization of ideas. They’re just a handy locating system.

Yes. This is one of the points where C.S. Lewis really falls down IMO; it’s not prescriptive, it’s descriptive of the results of the Fall. It comes right after the story of the Serpent and before the stories of the Murderous Brother, the Cleansing Flood, and the Tower of Pride–other examples of life after Eden.

Also note in the New Testament that the verses about men having rights over women’s bodies are paired with verses about women having rights over men’s bodies. Again, they cannot be considered in isolation without producing a distorted result.

Another favorite of the Fundamentalists is Proverbs 31, which is used as a way to browbeat women into scrubbing more, more, more, and sleeping less, less, less. But reading the entire poem (it’s a poem in Hebrew) shows that it’s introduced as a description of an unattainable ideal and directed to young men who are searching for a wife: while they’ll never find somebody exactly like this, the closer the better. Also, the poem includes lines about the wife owning a business and investing the profits as she chooses without consulting anyone. The initial address to young men is left out completely in most Fundamentalist quotations and the verses about wife as investor are generally replaced with an ellipsis.

Thanks for linking my piece! To be honest, I barely remember submitting it – I think I may have been somewhat, er, tired and emotional at the time – but I do want it to get read. I had been worried that it dumbed things down overmuch, but there’s clearly still a need for such simple and forthright articles: on the other venue where I published it, a commenter wrote, “Totally agree with you since this article seems to be a joke…” – which rather stuns me, so if anyone has any suggestions for how I should respond to that, your advice is much appreciated.

TBH I wouldn’t bother. When you get into the mud with pigs, you both get dirty… and the pig likes it. Be confident in your argument and your ideas, and know that because rape culture is so pervasive, others will disagree and try to silence you or dismiss your ideas. Instead of grappling with them, which will drain you intellectually and psychically, find allies and refine your craft.

Well now I have a legitimate reason to dislike Justin Bieber besides HERP DERP HIS MUSIC SUCKS AND HEZ A FAGGORT~!11 like so many other people do. “Rape happens for a reason”?? REALLY??!?! WHAT WOULD SELENA GOMEZ THINK His mind’s been totally warped by right-wing rhetoric…Canada’s been so full of fail recently.

Oh come on, he’s sixteen years old and raised by fundamentalist Christian parents. The interviewer asked that question hoping to elicit a controversial and ignorant response from a child who hasn’t yet examined the belief system his parents have imparted to him. And his family probably taught him that everything happens for a reason, that it’s all part of God’s greater plan, horrible things like rape and genocide and death by cancer included. He’s a kid. Give him a few years.

I really think a lot of the hatred and derision Mr. Bieber is up for is because of his target demographic. He is carefully marketed to appeal to tween girls. Yeah, his music stinks, and the social messages aren’t the best, but the media targeted at boys of the same age group and of the same quality is either ignored or seen as under-appreciated cult classics. I feel the same way about Twilight. I hate the books. They make me feel sick, and the stalking as romance is actually triggering. But I think the reason they are so reviled in the wider world is because they’re for teen girls, and they’re the romantic fantasies of a Mormon housewife, as if both of those in and of themselves is a reason for them to be scorned. I may be willing to flee stores to get away from Bieber’s music, but I still think the bile directed his way is reflective of the deep misogyny in our culture.

Oh, I didn’t know anything about the Bieb’s home life (ie, being raised by conservative Christian parents) but hearing ignorant bile like this from someone, irrespective of age always disturbs/alarms/bugs me. (I didn’t used to care until I became more socially aware)

That second paragraph reminds me of the alarming and blatant misogyny directed towards all that Sex and the City movie fever from ’08. People were making jokes about brutally raping and murdering the main characters or running them over with trucks. >_>

Most sixteen-year-olds don’t have an international audience, but one of the most ardent social justice advocates I know in their twenties at sixteen believed that dying in a back alley abortion was the just wages of sin.

Oh God, I remember that. It’s like the Dragon Age thing. They’re pissed that there is something in the world that wasn’t tailor made for them, and OMG, the world is ending, the women/gays/other minority have taken over! As for the rape fantasies, and they say rape isn’t an instrument of gender-based terror.

I thought the point of that piece was that people aren’t ‘growing out of’ those beliefs. Yes, some of it can be dismissed as young people being only exposed to one thing – but more and more, that one thing is what the far right would like anyone to be exposed to, in their own families and across the nation.

Yes, and I agree to a point, but it’s possible to see him as a troubling signpost and bellwether without heaping hatred on a kid.

I’m really pretty pissed at the interviewer who most likely wanted this kind of media response as a sales boosting tactic and so exposed girls to yet more ignorant sexism from somebody they think they should listen too.

I kinda agree with you. Many teenagers are pretty fucked up and outgrow this. When I was 16 I made rape jokes. Seriously, I was a teenage girl who made rape jokes. And now I’m in my mid-twenties and hate my younger self for that. Because now I have friends who were raped and I understand that this shit is not funny. But I blame adolessence and am glad that back then I met some people who told me to just shut up. And that’s what people need to tell Bieber.

But I blame adolessence and am glad that back then I met some people who told me to just shut up.

I am eternally grateful to my high school friends for calling me out on my shit. Some of it was simple ignorance (growing up with bigoted relatives means you sometimes think slurs are just value-neutral synonyms) but more of it was complacency & assuming everyone thought like me. Those multiple shocks to my system were invaluable feedback and I’m glad they were able to see something underneath the thoughtless bigotry that they thought was worth sticking around to uncover.

Attackfish:
Most sixteen-year-olds don’t have an international audience, but one of the most ardent social justice advocates I know in their twenties at sixteen believed that dying in a back alley abortion was the just wages of sin.

I was raised that way, and I had a very strange stew of beliefs at sixteen. I’m certainly glad I didn’t have anyone listening to me about them then.

FWIW, I had some sexist ideas when I was a teenager too. I was keenly aware of how abusive mothers engineered abusive sons (I say engineered because, clearly, they were living vicariously through the adult son’s misdeeds, so it had all been very deliberate), so I felt women were to blame for the mess society was in. My mom disagreed, but I was about 23 before I really understood why that equated to holding women to a HIGHER level of responsibility than I was holding men. After all, where were these guys’ fathers? Off busy not raising them, and if they ever changed a diaper, winning a Nobel Peace Prize for the trouble.

I really…really…REALLY regret finally watching that IGN clip. All the problematic issues in that video need to be unpacked with a fucking DUMPTRUCK.
(not to mention that the EBIL FEMINAZI DOMINATRIX~!!1 also looked to be a WoC…JUST WHAT THE FLYING FUCK, BASEMENT DWELLERS!?!)